Attachment for vault doors



Nov. 11 1924a 1,514,866

N. 2. SMITH ATTACHMENT FOR VAULT ndons Filed April 17 1922 2 sheds-shed1 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

N. Z. SMITH NOV. 19240 ATTACHMENT FOR VAULT DOORS Filed April 17, 1922 2Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEY.

atented NOV; 11, 1924-.

UNITED Ares NOBLE Z. SMITH, OF PEOBIA, ILLINOIS.

ATTACHMENT son VAULT nooRs.

Applieation'filed April 17, 1922. Serial No. 553,412.

To-aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NOBLE Z. SMITH, a citizen of the United States,residing at Peoria, in 'the county of Peoria and State of Illinois, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Attachments for Vault Doors; andI do hereby declare that the following-is a full, clear, and exactdescription 'of the invention, which will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertain's to make and use the same.

This invention pertains to an attachmentv for vault doors.

An object of my invention is to provide means by which the door ofa bankvault or other similar place may be. prevented, on occasion, from beingwholly closed and by which in the attempt to close said door will beautomatically locked or latched in its partially closed position andmade immovable from the outside.

Another object, is to provide an attachment for the door ofa bank vaulthaving for its purpose to aid'in frustrating attempted banditry, andbywhich the opera.-

\ tives in places. having a vault may be safe or of being swung openfrom the outside after an attempt to close it, to the end that fromwithin the vault such parts may be operated to permit the door to beopened for givingtsuch operatives anadvantage in the use of fire arms,while admitting of quickly closing and latching said door in an ajarposition.

To the end that the structure used and the purpose thereof may be morefully understood, I have-provided the accompanying drawings forming parthereof, it being'understood that I do not limit myself to the structureillustrated since various changes are possible while still within thescope of the invention and the claims herein.

Figure 1 is an elevation of the inner side of a vault-door showing myinvention installed thereon.

F igure2 is a plan of the upper edge of a vault-door with my inventionshown. installed on a ledge thereof.

Figure 3 is a similar figure showing certain parts in differentpositions from those shown in Figure 2.

Figure 4 is also a plan of the top edge of a door showing alteredpositions of parts illustrated in Figure 2, and

Figure 5 shows, inperspective, part of the door and parts of myinvention mounted thereon.

Parts of the front wall of a vault are designated in Figures 1, 2 and 3by the character 1, which constitute the door-jamb, while 2 is thevault-door, 3 being a ledge at the top of the latter through which theusual locking bolts 4 extend.

Lying in the angle formed by the door 2 and the ledge 3, Figure 5especially, is a bar 5 adapted to shift in the direction of its 'length.Said bar may be placed elsewhere on said ledge but the positlon shownis. a convenient one since a natural guide is created by these parts. Asa convenient manner of retaining the bar in position while permittingthe longitudinal movement referred to, a block 6 is secured upon theledge 3, an extension thereof lying within a groove 7 in said bar.

One end of the latter extends beyond the hinged edge of the door andabuts upon the door jamb, being there held elastically by suitable meanssuch, for example, as a spring 8 attached at one end to the'door and atthe other to the said her.

A slide 9v is likewise placed in the angle formed by the door 2 and theledge 3, the

same adapted to project from or to be extended beyond the opposite edgeof the door.

Said slide at its other end lies against the bar 5, forming a guidetherefor, there being blocks 10 and 11, for example, on the ledge whichenter rooves 12 in the slide serving to retain the atter in place whilepermitting an endwise movement thereof to be explained.

13 is a recess in the slide into which the bar 5 is permitted to pass attimes, there beinga trigger 13' within the recess pivoted to said slide,its free endlextending in the general direction of'the said bar 5; Aspring 14 serves to hold the trigger elas- Said 7 ton ofsaid trigger inFigure .2 to' that w l '5 shown in F gure 4, to permit the 'bar to move fbehind it into-said recess. 1

. 5' is a recess in the bar 5 into which a pin 9' carried by andslidably within the slide f9 is adapted to enter, 10 inclinedinnerwaIlsurface for ejecting the Pivotally mounted upon the ledge 3 is a latch16 which in the present instance is adapted to swing in a horizontalplane and may occupy one of two extreme positions,

i. :e. that shown by dotted lines in Figure 2 and as in Figure 3, but inuse moving between these two positions as will appear presently.

latchhas a projecting heel portion 17 near its pivoted end with which anextension 18 of the slide 9 is adapted to engage, whereby in thelongitudinal shifting v. mtwelnent'of the latter said latch-will beDepending from. the

" venient: part of the interior of thevault, is

a stop/ or keeper 19, Figures 1 and 3, with which said latch is" adaptedto cooperate when the door is moved toward its closedpositionundercircumstances now to bedis- .j Normally, the parts lie inthe positions *shown in Figure 2 whether the door is standing ajar orwide open, but when wide open (not shown) the bar 5 will be extendedfrom the. door-edge still farther, due to the f pull of the spring 8 andwill rest upon a .cam'l" on the wall 1, which cam will serve 4'togradually move the bar by forcing it.

. len hwise toward-- the trigger.

When and as the 'door is moved in an attempt to close it, either 'bybandits to imprison persons driven into the vault, or'by persons whomayhave entered for safety, the bar 5 will be forced against and cause thetrigger 13. to be shifted with it together with-the slide9, The letterwill be thereby projected at its outer end beyond the edge to -of thedoor to strike the jamb as in Figure door being closed; As

- 3 preventing the t action occurs the latch 16 will have been swungfrom the ure 2, to that shown in Figure 3 against the dependin stop orkeeper 19.

- hose om without are thus now unable to. either ti htly close the doordue to the projecting s 'de ,9which, of course, cannot be inwardlyshifted, nor can they open the to door due to the fact that the latch 16will engage said bar or keeper 19 and prevent it.

Neither can the door be opened sufficiently to permit the entrance ofany instrmu nt for reaching the said latch 16, norcould thelatch bemoved, even if reached, to dissaid recess having an ceiling or other con"ter may pass behind it.

I claim:

dotted line position, Figmoving the gage said kee r.

"engage it from the said keeper from the fact that the heel portion 17lies a ainst the now immovable slide 9 held by the. car 5 and tri ex13'.

' owever, a person within the vault when opportunity permits, may movethe trigger awa from the. bar 5 to permit it to move past the latter,Figure 4, whereupon the slide 9 may be shifted by the latch, as thatmember is moved away from the keeper 19, sufficiently to permit the doorto be opened.

As danger threatens, the latch .is thrown against the keeper and theslide moved outwardly again to permit the trig er to again take up itsposition behind the ar 5.

Thus it is seen that those from without are at the mercy of firearmsused by those protected within the vault. An advantage also in the useof my device is that persons cannot be locked within a closed vault andthus be in danger "of suffocation, as often 7 results.

When locking the vault for the night the trigger 13' is withdrawn frombehind the bar 5, as already explained, so that the lat- Now by pushingthe pin 9 into the'recess 5, as shown in Figure 4,-the bar is heldbehind the trigger in opposition to-the pull of the spring 8 preventingthe said trigger being released. With the slide 9 withdrawn so that itsend is inward from the edge of the door the latter may now be closed,the bar 5 being natural; ly and necessarily pushed farther behind thetrigger during which action the pin is forced outward and out of therecess 5' so that when the door is again opened for the .days businessthe bar can move from behind the tri ger, the device being automaticallyset rea, y for an emergency.

I am unaware of an attachment for a vault door having the aim andpurposes outlined herein, and therefore having set forth a'type' ofmechanism for accomplishing these aims,

1. In combination with the mounted door of a vault and the door-jamb, ofmechanism movable in and during the act of moving the door to its closedposition,the same adapted to engage at one end a relatively immovablepart during said act whereby to carry the-other end 0 said mechanismbetween the door-jamb and an edgeof the door for preventing entirelyclosing the latter. 7

2. In combination with the door and a door-jamb of a vault, of mountedmechanism operated automatically inthe act of door to its'closedposition by contact with arel-atively stationary portion for prog'ectingsaid mechanism between an edge 0 the door and said door-jamb, a keeperwithin the vault, and a latch operated automatically by said'mechanismto en- 3. In comb tion with the and re ease nism inward from the outerface of the door operated automatically in and due to movement-of thelatter to a artially closed position for movin a part of saidmechanismbetween an e ge of the door and the door-jamb, preventing said doorbeing entirely closed, and means within the vault to automatically latchthe door and prevent its being opened from the outside when moved tosaid partially closed position.

' 4;. In combination with the door and doorjamb of a vault, of mechanismcarried on the inner side of the door mounted to move parallel to theplane thereof including a part adapted to engage the door-jamb at thehinged edge of the door and also including a part adapted to be-projected from the opposite edge of the door when and asthe door ismoved toward its closed position, and means to automatically latch thedoor and prevent the movement thereof from the outside to open -it whenin a partially closed position.

5. In combination with the door and d00rjamb of a vault, of two separateparts mounted on the door capable of movement relatively to each otherand relatively to said door, one of them normally and elasticallyabutting against the jamb at the hinged edge of the door, the otheradapted to bepr ected beyond the other edge "of said door. to prevententire closin of the door, a member adapted for operative engagementwith both parts whereby move: ment' of one will impart movement to theother, a latch operated b one of the parts in its movement, and aeeperwithin the vault with which the latch is adapted to engage when the dooris stopped by the projectinlg part.

6. n combination with the door and door-jamb of a vault, of mechanismmounted on the door including a part adapted at one end to abut againstthejamb, means to elastically hold the same against said jamb, a secondpart adaptedfor-movement with respect to the first, and a triggerpivoted on one of the parts adapted to operatively engage the other bywhich the movement of' one will impart movement to the other, thetrigger adapted to be moved to permitthe parts to move relatively.

7. In combination with the door and door-jamb of a vault, of mechanismmounted on the door including a part adapted at one end to abut againstthe jamby means to elastically hold the same against said jamb, a secondpart adapted for movement with respectto the first, and a triggerpivoted on one of the par-ts adapted to operatively engage the other bywhich the movement of one will ,impart movement to the other, thetrigger adapted to be moved to permit the parts to move relatively, andmeans to control the elastically held part with respect to said trigger.J

8. In combination with the door of a vault or other enclosure, ofmounted mechanism adapted to be operated by the door in the act ofmoving said door toward its position, and means to automatically latchthe door in that position to prevent its being opened from the outside.

9. In combination with r the door of a vault, of mounted mechanismadapted to be operated through the instrumentality of said door andincluding a part to be moved into the path of said door in an attempt toclose the same to stop it in an aj ar position, said part adapted to bemoved manually relatively to the mechanism, and means to automaticallylatch the door after having been moved to such ajar position to preventsaid door being swung open from the outside.

In testimony whereof I aifix my signature in presence of two witnesses.I

' NOBLE Z. SMITH.

Witnesses:

Jonson STARR, L. M. Tnumow.

